Plane-Maker / Airfoil-Maker and that good old AAF...

[jcomm 5,890]

My first inccursion into the world of flight simulation "devlopment" was BAO's AAF ( "Aircraft & ADventure Factory" ).

For MSFS there were some nice tools available, AIR file editors mostly, but never nothing like what I had the chance to get my hands on for the first time when Austin created the Plane-Maker and companion Airfoil-Maker apps available.

Since MFS is going to bring really new features FDM-wise, but also scenery and weather wise, I wonder if it'll debut with some tools of this kind, or just the usual SDK mostly directed at the "professionals" ?

Would really like to know something like this will become available.

 

[Claviateur 789]

I have the feeling the flight model architecture and philosphy will remain as it was in ESP (FSX) using Tables with known or estimated data but most probably more sophisticated.

I could be wrong but as far as I remember they mentioned that it won't be based on the Blade Element concept. Yet way more sophisticated then ESP.

Also a legacy flight model mode will be available (aka: FSX aircraft). Hence it will have a similar architecture in my opinion.

Edited January 28, 2020 by Claviateur

[nickhod 425]

32 minutes ago, Claviateur said:

I have the feeling the flight model architecture and philosphy will remain as it was in ESP (FSX) using Tables with known or estimated data but most probably more sophisticated.

I could be wrong but as far as I remember they mentioned that it won't be based on the Blade Element concept. Yet way more sophisticated then ESP.

It's not technically blade element theory because they're making calculations over many aircraft parts, not just the wings (blades).

The legacy mode is lookup tables, the default mode is something better, but based on, blade element theory.

(All of that according to various Asobo videos).

[Claviateur 789]

12 minutes ago, nickhod said:

It's not technically blade element theory because they're making calculations over many aircraft parts, not just the wings (blades).

The legacy mode is lookup tables, the default mode is something better, but based on, blade element theory.

(All of that according to various Asobo videos).

Oh ok, sorry, I misunderstood then. Good news!

[ca_metal 2,015]

43 minutes ago, Claviateur said:

Oh ok, sorry, I misunderstood then. Good news!

Yeah, they said it wasn't neither the blade element theory nor the look-up tables. It is something new. But like Nickhod said, the legacy mode will bring the Look-up tables to the sim when using this mode (I hope the 3rd parties don't use this shortcut to port their "new" aircrafts made to the sim, I know I'm not buying any planes using legacy mode).

[mp15 138]

as developer and aircraft designer I really like Austin Meyer Plane Maker, I expect an SDK similar where I can visually work on my planesand not just code.

[FDEdev 955]

Many years ago x-plane even had a very powerful flap maker. Never understood why Austin dumbed aircraft design down by removing it.

[vortex681 806]

6 hours ago, nickhod said:

The legacy mode is lookup tables, the default mode is something better, but based on, blade element theory.

Where did they say that it was based on blade element theory?

Edited January 29, 2020 by vortex681

[188AHC 2,138]

Ah, the inevitable human condition, screw with new stuff to make it better. Oh my. 😂

[jcomm 5,890]

5 hours ago, 188AHC said:

Ah, the inevitable human condition, screw with new stuff to make it better. Oh my. 😂

You mean MS / ASOBO in chosing to create a new type of flight dynamics model, pretty much X-Plane like, or those who use Plane Maker / Airfoil Maker to edit their aircraft ?

Either way, they both look like good choices. The old table-based model is still very valid for as much as the big LevelD sims, but truth is every flight simulator these days uses a BeT approach more than any other thing. It's a trend... like Python for programming :-)

[nickhod 425]

16 hours ago, vortex681 said:

Where did they say that it was based on blade element theory?

I can't recall the exact video. It was in developer Q&A when they did the Seattle YouTubers preview.

One of the Asobo team explained that it was "like blade element theory" but "not quite" because it took into account "a lot more surfaces".

[tweekz 2,165]

1 hour ago, nickhod said:

I can't recall the exact video. It was in developer Q&A when they did the Seattle YouTubers preview.

One of the Asobo team explained that it was "like blade element theory" but "not quite" because it took into account "a lot more surfaces".

Yeah, they mentioned up to 1000 surfaces in their aerodynamics feature discovery episode as well.

And that it takes a lot of environmental conditions into account. Combined with the realistic weather engine this sounds very good.

[GlideBy 324]

Flight chops talks to devs about the flight model here, at 6:35 

 

[vortex681 806]

On 1/29/2020 at 4:17 PM, nickhod said:

One of the Asobo team explained that it was "like blade element theory"

But the best table-based flight models are "like blade element theory". That doesn't mean that they're based on blade element theory. I didn't hear anyone actually mentioning the phrase "blade element theory" in the interview, just that 1000 surfaces are being monitored compared to just one previously.

[nickhod 425]

On 1/30/2020 at 6:52 PM, vortex681 said:

But the best table-based flight models are "like blade element theory". That doesn't mean that they're based on blade element theory. I didn't hear anyone actually mentioning the phrase "blade element theory" in the interview, just that 1000 surfaces are being monitored compared to just one previously.

In one video, the phrase "blade element theory" was used in response to a question and a vague comparison was made.

I agree, that can mean a lot of things and "based on" is overstating. It may only be "like" it in that its dynamically calculated according to airflow.

The devs made it clear however that it's not lookup table based, calculations are being done in real-time and that's all I really care about.